Abstract:Aim To explore the correlation between methylation rate of different cytosine-phosphate-guanine (CpG) sites in the Furin promoter region and blood lipids in non-diabetic adults. Methods This study was a cross-sectional study. The study population was non-diabetic adults from the Gusu cohort. The methylation rates of the eight CpG sites in the Furin promoter region, blood glucose, blood lipids, blood pressure and other assays in this population at baseline were collected, and the correlation between the methylation rates of these sites and blood lipids were investigated by variance analysis and Logistic regression models. The E-value was used to evaluate the robustness of the relationship between methylation rates of the CpG sites and blood lipids. Results The methylation rates of CpG sites in Furin promoter region were only correlated with the level of total cholesterol (TC). The methylation rate of CpG4 site was lower in TC increased group than that in normal group (P＜0.05). Multivariate Logistic regression analysis showed that methylation rate at CpG2 site (with a change of 10%) was independently correlated with elevated blood TC (OR=1.2,5%CI:1.05～2.51, P=0.031). After adjusting for relevant covariates, the methylation rate of CpG2 was still positively correlated with elevated TC in subgroups of different ages/genders. The E-value calculated according to the correlation between the methylation rate of CpG2 and the risk of elevated TC in the multifactorial analysis was 2.62, which supported the robustness of this relationship. Conclusion Elevated methylation rate of CpG2 site in the Furin promoter region is an independent risk factor for elevated blood TC. This site may be a potential target for regulating blood TC.
